Sunday, October 2, 2016

CFB TV Guesses for 2016 Week Seven (10/15/16)

Here are the games already set for television and/or webcast.  Here are the known available telecast windows.

* Ohio St. at Wisconsin will be on ABC, ESPN or ESPN2 at 8pm.  Also, Iowa at Purdue & Illinois at Rutgers (12pm) and Nebraska at Indiana & Northwestern at Michigan St. (3:30pm) are also locked into their start times.  The four afternoon games are homecoming games.
* I struggled a bit with the placing of New Mexico vs. Air Force, which is being played at the Cotton Bowl, which has no lights, so I prioritized its start time a bit.  Because of that, Iowa at Purdue, which isn't flexible on the start time, gets the bump to ESPN2 even though Minnesota at Maryland, based on records, may be more worthy.
* Right now, I'm assuming two BTN windows, but programming for the network on that day has switched to TBA from 12pm to 8:30pm ET, so it is possible that BTN will drop a telecast window.
* FOX & FS1 are carrying two Big 12 games and a Pac-12 game.  Note that the broadcast network's television window is earlier due to the possibility of airing of  NLCS Game 1 in primetime, though I think FS1 will be carrying the baseball game, or at least intends to with several hours of "To Be Announced" programming that night.
* ACC RSN package will have a doubleheader at 12pm & 3:30pm.
* Iowa St. at Texas has been claimed for Longhorn Network, with Cyclones.TV providing a broadcast in Iowa.  What is being determined is the start time.
* After filling in the MAC's two windows on CBS Sports Network and American Sports Network, I looked over the remaining games from the MAC & Sun Belt and did not see a reason to use the two ESPNEWS windows and discarded them.
* Since the Pac-12 isn't likely to have a telecast window on ABC or FOX that requires exclusivity, the Pac-12 Networks telecast windows could be moved slightly to allow for the first telecast window to start after noon Pacific Time.

All times Eastern.

12pm ABC: North Carolina at Miami (FL)
12pm ESPN: Kansas St. at Oklahoma
12pm ESPN2: Iowa at Purdue
12pm FS1: Kansas at Baylor
12pm ESPNU: New Mexico vs. Air Force
12pm SEC: Missouri at Florida
12pm BTN: Illinois at Rutgers
12pm ACC RSNs: Pittsburgh at Virginia
12:30pm ACC Network: Virginia Tech at Syracuse
2pm Pac-12: UCLA at Washington St.
3:30pm ABC: NC State at Clemson
3:30pm CBS: Alabama at Tennessee
3:30pm FOX: West Virginia at Texas Tech
3:30pm ESPN: Nebraska at Indiana
3:30pm ESPN2: Tulsa at Houston
3:30pm FS1: Arizona St. at Colorado
3:30pm ESPNU: Minnesota at Maryland
3:30pm CBSSN: Eastern Michigan at Ohio
3:30pm BTN: Northwestern at Michigan St.
3:30pm ASN: Western Michigan at Akron
3:30pm ACC RSNs: Georgia Southern at Georgia Tech
4pm SEC: Vanderbilt at Georgia
5:30pm Pac-12: Utah at Oregon St.
7pm ESPN: Ole Miss at Arkansas
7pm ESPN2: Wake Forest at Florida St.
7pm ESPNU: Temple at UCF
7pm CBSSN: Connecticut at USF
7pm Longhorn/Cyclones.TV: Iowa St. at Texas
7:30pm SEC: Southern Miss at LSU
8pm ABC: Ohio St. at Wisconsin
10:15pm ESPN2: Colorado St. at Boise St.
10:30pm ESPN: USC at Arizona

ESPN3
Ball St. at Buffalo
Kent St. at Miami (OH)
Central Michigan at Northern Illinois
Bowling Green at Toleddo
South Alabama at Arkansas St.
Georgia St. at Troy
Texas St. at UL-Monroe

Now, based on the possibility of only one BTN window (let's say no 3:30pm window), add back one ESPNEWS window.  Here's the games affected:

12pm ESPN2: Minnesota at Maryland
12pm ESPNEWS: Iowa at Purdue
3:30pm ESPNU: Northwestern at Michigan St.

2 comments:

Darrell McKown said...

That would be four weeks in a row for Tennessee on CBS, but they have to pick that game. With the possible exception of week 12, I can't see them picking another Tennessee game even if they are undefeated. The back end of that schedule is horrible.

CBS should be good for the Iron Bowl as well. Alabama-Tennessee is only game 2 for Alabama, so they can pick the A&M, LSU and Auburn games and be right at five for the year.

Matt Sarzyniak said...

Yep, I went through that with Tennessee when discussing the week six guesses.